Big Sky

by Stacey Coverstone

  “Shut up and run now,” Nancy complained, swatting at him like he was a fly. “Run far away.”

  “Whatever you want,” he said, shaking his head and stepping out of the bathroom.

  Taylor heard his footsteps retreat from the bedroom, down the stairs, and then the front door slammed. “You shouldn’t have spoken to him that way, Mama. He just got you out of this tub. Couldn’t you see he was scared to death?”

  “I don’t care.” She stood and wobbled into the bedroom where her clothes were lying on the bed.

  Taylor followed behind. “You scared me, too. You have to be more careful.”

  “I’m sorry, dear. Turn your head. I’m going to drop the towel and put on my under things.”

  Taylor faced the bathroom. “He and I just had a talk and he swears he’s not cheating on you with Chelsea or anyone else.”

  “Is that so? And you believe him?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then what’s he hiding in his desk?”

  “I don’t know. Your accident interrupted us, but I’m going to find out.”

  “You can turn around now.”

  Taylor shrugged a dress over her mama’s head and then helped her onto the bed and told her she’d get an ice pack for her elbow. “Be right back.”

  Will was nowhere to be seen downstairs. Obviously, he’d left. Guess our talk will have to continue later, she thought, stepping into the kitchen and reaching into the freezer for an ice pack. When she turned around, she almost ran into Jamie.

  “Don’t scare me like that,” she complained, hopping back and feeling her nerves dancing.

  Jamie made a face to show she was sorry.

  Knowing she was only able to remain visible for a few seconds at a time, Taylor said, “Have you come to give me another clue as to your killer’s identity?”

  Jamie nodded and acted like she was holding a camera to her eyes. She used her finger to pretend to push down on the shutter release.

  “Just like charades,” Taylor said. “This is an easy one. It’s something having to do with my camera.”

  Jamie shook her head and pointed to herself.

  “Your camera! Of course.” Taylor smacked the side of her head with her hand. Her voice grew excited. “Is there a picture of your killer on your camera?”

  Again, Jamie wagged her head back and forth. Her aura was growing lighter, disappearing quickly. Maybe there were only so many times a spirit could appear before she’d be gone for good.

  “Don’t leave yet,” Taylor begged. “What is it about your camera you want me to know?”

  Jamie rolled her eyes in frustration and evaporated like mist before being able to act out more.

  Taylor gazed around the kitchen, wondering if Jamie could still hear her. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what you were trying to tell me. Please help me to understand. Maybe you can give me a message in my dreams, or whisper a name in my ear. Did you leave a diary I should read? Please show me a sign, Jamie. Give me something to go on. Anything.”

  Just then her cell phone rang. Ripping it from the pocket of her purse and thinking it might be Brett, she was disappointed to hear Sage from the art gallery on the other end.

  “I’m sorry to bother you, Taylor, but something strange just happened that I thought you should be aware of. Someone was just here to see me. A Native American gentleman."

  Taylor felt a quickening in her chest. “Native American, you say? What was his name?”

  “I asked, but he wouldn’t tell me.”

  “What did he want?”

  “He wanted to buy one of Jamie’s photographs. And he said he was in a big hurry. I had to decide right then and there if I’d sell it to him. He told me he had cash.”

  “What did you tell him?”

  “I politely explained that I was not authorized to sell any of the photos. That they belong to Jamie’s family, or her estate. I invited him to attend the reception if he was a fan of hers.”

  “What did he do then?”

  “He ground his teeth and stomped out looking very perturbed.”

  The man had to be Adam Echo Hawk. “Sage, which photograph was he interested in?”

  “The one of the cave.”

  That was it! Jamie had given her a sign, and it was the connection she needed! Adam had surfaced and, for some reason, he wanted that particular photo. “Sage, thank you very much. If that man returns again, please call me as soon as possible.”

  “I certainly will.”

  Taylor snapped the phone shut and smiled. “Thank you, Jamie,” she whispered.

  She tromped upstairs and situated the ice pack around her mother’s elbow and then sat in the chair next to her bed. The muscles in her body screamed with tension. What was her next step? Obviously, it was to find that cave and figure out its connection to Jamie and her death. Before she could do that, however, she had to pick up the new rental car and fill her mother in on the events of the past couple of days.

  After giving Mama more details, but excluding the part about seeing Jamie’s ghost, and also leaving out that someone was trying to hurt her, she changed the subject.

  “What are you going to do about a nurse now that you’ve fired Chelsea?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll have to do the exercises on my own, I suppose. She taught me all I need to know about strengthening my hip. And I’m motivated to get better, so I’ll be all right.”

  “You know I’ll help while I’m here, and I’m sure your husband will be more than happy to offer his assistance.”

  “We’ll see about that. First, you have to find out what he’s hiding in the office. I won’t trust him again until I know the secret he’s keeping from me.”

  “Somehow I’ll get him to fess up,” Taylor promised.

  For the next couple of hours, they spent their time playing cards, talking about old times, and ate sandwiches Taylor prepared. All the while, her mind wandered. Would Adam Echo Hawk try to contact her, now that he’d apparently come out of hiding?

  Earlier than expected, her cell phone rang. It was the car rental company informing her that the replacement vehicle was on its way to the service station in Prosperity that doubled as a tow truck company.

  “Have Brett drive you to town in my car,” Mama said, smiling.

  “Thanks, but I think I’ll see if Charlie’s around.”

  “Charlie? Why not Brett? Didn’t the two of you have a good time last night?”

  Thinking about the cave and Adam Echo Hawk had taken Taylor’s mind off Brett for a couple of hours. Now, the memory of their night together caused her heart to twist with longing. Her voice was thick with emotion when she answered. “It was a nice date, but that was all there was to it. I’m not looking for a relationship. Besides, we don’t have that much in common. What would be the point? I’ll be going back to L.A.” She gave Mama her back so she couldn’t see the color Taylor felt was flooding her face. Mama had always been able to see straight through her lies. When she swung around again, her mother’s face was a sober mask.

  “That’s too bad about you and Brett. I thought you might really hit it off. And I sure hate to think of you leaving anytime soon.”

  Taylor kissed her cheek. “As soon as we figure all of this out, I have to go back to L.A. That’s my home now. I have work to do. But I swear I’ll come back often to visit.”

  Nancy nodded sadly. “Go on and find Charlie and take care of that business in town. I’ll see you later.”

  Taylor found Charlie in the barn. As she was explaining her request to him, Brett stepped through the door. Their gazes latched. Walking toward him with frayed nerves, she asked if he could spare Charlie long enough for him to drive her to Prosperity.

  “I can take you,” Brett said.

  She gnawed at her bottom lip, surprised at the offer, considering their earlier exchange in town. “Charlie doesn’t mind, as long as it’s okay with you.”

  His shoulders sagged with fatigue. “It’s Charlie’s day off, too. He can do as h
e pleases,” Brett said, dismissing her.

  “All right,” she squeaked, watching his long legs stride with purpose to the tack room. Today, her mood had dipped from one extreme to the next. She wanted to stop him, but she wasn’t about to make a scene in front of the staff. Even if Brett were willing to talk some more, what would she say? They’d both said it all outside the diner.

  “Let’s go, Charlie.”

  As they made their way to the sedan, Taylor removed her camera from her purse and showed him the digital picture she’d snapped of Jamie’s photograph. “Do you know this cave?”

  He lifted a pair of reading glasses from his shirt pocket and peered into the view finder. “It’s been a good many years, but I’ve seen it, yes. It’s over an hour’s ride by horseback from here. We don’t keep cattle in that part of the ranch anymore. We did years ago.”

  “Have you been inside the cave before?”

  He chuckled. “No, Miss Taylor. I don’t care for cold, dark places. What about you, Tumbleweed?”

  Taylor glanced to her right to see the huge, hulking man with the funny nickname strolling toward them, coming from the direction of the bunkhouse.

  “Have you been in that cave near the creek?” Charlie asked upon his approach.

  Tumbleweed peered into the camera’s view finder. “Been there once, but not inside. Dash and I were riding the range about six months ago, and we came across that cavern. Dash wanted to check it out, but I don’t much like the dark.”

  Taylor chuckled, amazed that both these cowboys who made a living doing manly activities like breaking bucking horses and moving cattle were afraid of the dark.

  “What did Dash find inside?” she asked.

  “He said there was nothing in there but some ancient rock art on the walls. He’s into history and said the pictures were kind of interesting.”

  “Pictures? As in, Native American petroglyphs?” She’d never heard talk about the cave before, either from her father or by Will. Was it possible neither of them had known about the cave? Impossible, she thought.

  “I guess that’s what they’re called.” Tumbleweed shrugged his wide shoulders.

  “Charlie, do you think you could draw me a map to the place?” she asked, nodding goodbye to Tumbleweed and sliding onto the driver’s side of her mother’s car.

  “I believe I can. My memory is still sound.”

  As she drove to town, he drew a crude map on a napkin found in the glove compartment. Once they reached the service station, she thanked him for taking time on his day off to help her out and handed him the keys to the sedan. He handed her the map. As soon as he drove away, Taylor sensed someone watching her. When she turned her head, a figure darted behind the corner of the building. Was the person male or female? She couldn’t tell. Probably someone using the restroom outside.

  Inside, she signed the necessary papers while the same man who had towed the car the night before parked the new rental vehicle in front of the building. With the transaction complete and the keys in her palm, Taylor shook the man’s hand and he went inside. Anxious to get back to the ranch and ride out to the cave, she yanked the car door open.

  The keys slipped from her hand and hit the gravel with a thump. As she bent to retrieve them, the crack of a gunshot rang out. The windows of the gas station behind her exploded and shattered. Screaming, Taylor dove to the ground with shards of glass spraying onto her.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Shaking and pressed close to the car door, Taylor heard the owner of the service station shout obscenities from inside. She couldn’t see him when she glanced in that direction, but she heard his loud complaints. Figuring the shot had come from the abandoned building across the road, her ears pricked when she heard footsteps running over gravel. Lying on her side, she peered under the car and saw boot heels. Someone jumped into a vehicle. The door slammed and the car peeled away, squealing its tires. Only then did she dare to sit up.

  “Are you all right, Miss Young? Are you hurt?” The station owner skittered to her side.

  She checked her arms and hands for cuts or blood and found none. “Yes, I’m okay. Were you hit?”

  “No, but my windows are blown to hell. Did you see the license plate on the car that sped away? Or catch the make or model of the vehicle?”

  “No, I’m sorry. It all happened so fast.”

  “I didn’t either,” he admitted, shaking his head. “Let me help you up. I think we’re out of danger now.” He offered his hand and pulled her up from the ground. “What do you think the shooter was aiming at? This car or my place?”

  Believing she knew the answer, Taylor gulped but chose not to comment.

  “You wait here,” he said. “I’m going inside to call the sheriff’s department. They’ll want to talk to both of us.”

  She nodded, feeling dizzy and nauseous. “I’ll wait here in the car.” After sliding onto the driver’s seat, she rested her head against the steering wheel. “That shot was meant for me,” she mumbled. “Maybe it wasn’t meant to kill me, but definitely to scare me. Just like the snake and the tampered brakes.”

  When the passenger door flung open and someone hurtled inside, Taylor’s head jerked up. The face was a blur as she instinctively reached for her door handle and tried to scream but couldn’t. Her throat muscles were paralyzed. Panic claimed her when an iron fist gripped her around the wrist and pulled her back.

  “Please! Don’t scream,” the deep voice commanded. “I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to talk.”

  With the breath locked deep inside her chest, Taylor’s head pivoted slowly. Without even knowing what he looked like, she knew the man beside her was Adam Echo Hawk. She glanced back at the service station and saw the man inside still talking on the phone.

  “Did you shoot at me?” she asked, feeling in her heart it had not been him.

  The man was handsome with dark piercing eyes, a narrow nose, high cheekbones and short black hair. “No,” he said. “I don’t own a gun.”

  “Did you see the shooter’s face?”

  “No. I hid behind the building. You weren’t hit, were you?” She shook her head and he said, “I must talk to you about your sister.”

  Taylor’s rapid pulse continued to throb. “I’m listening, but you’d better hurry. The owner of this place called the police and they’re on their way.”

  Adam’s gaze penetrated her. “I did not kill Jamie. You have to believe me.”

  “Why should I?”

  “My mother raised me not to tell lies.”

  She gazed at him through narrow eyes. “But you believe she was murdered?”

  “Yes.”

  “Who killed her? Was it your girlfriend, Patty?”

  His dark brows furrowed. “Patty is my ex-girlfriend, and no, she did not kill Jamie. I wish I knew who did, but I don’t.”

  “Then what makes you think her death was anything other than suicide?”

  “She told me she’d accidentally discovered something on the ranch that was going to make some people filthy rich if they got away with their scheme. When she caught them in the act, they offered to cut her in on their deal, but she wouldn’t have it. She gave them a chance to do the right thing, but when they refused, she threatened to go to the sheriff. I think that’s what got her killed.”

  Taylor leaned forward. He’d said they. There was more than one person involved. She knew whatever Jamie had discovered had been found in the cave. Were the ancient petroglyphs the discovery? If so, who and why would someone kill Jamie over rock art? The only way to make any money on something like that would be to open up the cave as a historic monument to paying tourists. That involved the government or the Bureau of Land Management. No one got rich that way. The idea was preposterous.

  “When did my sister tell you all this?”

  “The day before she died.”

  “Who had wanted to make the deal with her?”

  “I don’t know. I suppose she was trying to protect me, because she w
ouldn’t give names.”

  “Did my stepfather know about her discovery?”

  A perplexed expression filled Adam’s face. Taylor waited with baited breath, praying Will had had nothing to do with Jamie’s death.

  “I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

  Frustrated, Taylor pounded her fist into the car seat. “What do you know? So far, it hasn’t been much.”

  She noted Adam’s straight, white teeth when he gritted them and could see why her sister would have been attracted to him. With proud defiance, he said, “I know I loved Jamie and wanted to marry her. I know she was happy with her life and with the career she’d begun. And I know she was clean and sober and did not commit suicide. Those are the things I know,” he said with fire flaming in his dark eyes.

  Although Taylor had no good reason for believing him, she did. The truth resonated in his voice. Her own voice faltered when she said, “I’m going to find out who killed her, Adam. I promise you that.”

  “It won’t bring her back.”

  “No, it won’t. But justice will be served and you’ll be able to move on with your life.” Jamie, too, she thought. “Adam, I know you’ve been in hiding because you’ve been afraid they’ll come after you, too.”

  His nostrils flared with shame. “I’ve been a coward,” he said quietly. “But it’s time people know the truth about Jamie. She was a good woman. She wouldn’t bring shame to her family. She didn’t kill herself.”

  Taylor glanced behind her at the sound of sirens whining. “I have to leave,” she said, making the split-second decision not to stay and talk to Rick Tavares. She jammed the key into the ignition, feeling there wasn’t a moment to spare. “Do you want me to drop you somewhere?” She looked over her shoulder and expected to see cop cars rolling up at any moment.

  Adam pushed the door open. “Go. I’m okay. Be careful.”

  She nodded. “Will I see you again?”

  “I’m like the wind. I’ll be around.”

  “Adam,” Taylor shouted as he jumped out. “Thank you for making Jamie happy.”